Tripartite Council fails to reach agreement on raising minimum wage

Lithuania's Tripartite Council on Tuesday failed to reach agreement on raising the minimum wage. Employers are inclined to back the government's proposal to raise the minimum pay to 420 euros. Meanwhile, trade unions want it increased to 450 euros.

Eglė Radišauskienė, a vice minister of social security and labor, on Tuesday reiterated the government's previous position that the minimum wage should be calculated based on a formula presented by the Bank of Lithuania in 2017. Based on it, the minimum wage would grow to 420 euros.

"We all agreed then that the minimum wage should be calculated based on that formula and we should refrain from any further discussions on that, therefore, we propose using that formula," she told the council meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Kristina Krupavičienė, chair of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas (Solidarity), disagrees with the government's proposal and says people will find it hard to survive on such a minimum wage. Trade unions want it raised to 450 euros based on the estimated average monthly salary in 2019.

Rūta Skyrienė, head of the association Investuotoju Forumas (Investors' Forum), says the majority of employers would back the government's proposal.

The minimum wage in Lithuania was raised by 20 euros to 400 euros last year.